MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Wilson To was beginning his final year at school when he decided to get a school Facebook page started. Nothing unusual about that, you might think, but Wilson's motivation for setting up the page wasn't to discover the latest school gossip. He believed that Facebook could help him take on a problem that was making life difficult for a few schoolmates: bullying.

Without mentioning his plans to his friends, Wilson launched 'A-tech compliments', a Facebook page which invited students to send in anonymous compliments about each other, their teachers and their school. At first, Wilson wasn't expecting much of a response and he monitored messages closely in case unpleasant comments or racism appeared. However, Wilson needn't have worried. 'A-tech compliments' was an instant success and quickly had five hundred regular followers, all of them being positive. It seems that the students were just waiting for the opportunity to say nice things about each other and their school!

Although everybody wanted to know who had thought up this great idea, Wilson kept s his identity secret until the end of the school year, when the school intercom asked the creator of the Facebook page to reveal himself. Wilson stepped forward to receive the applause and thanks of the whole school. He was also given one last job to do: train a new administrator so the page could continue after Wilson stepped down. Today, the idea has also spread to high schools across the country.


1. What problem did Wilson want to solve when he created the Facebook page?

2. What was the purpose of the “A-tech compliments” page?

3. How did Wilson make sure the page stayed positive?

4. How did students react to the page?

5. What happened when Wilson’s identity was revealed?